Agenda and draft minutes

To elect a Chair for the academic year 2024/25

RESOLVED that Vicki Gibson, Group A: Christian Denominations and Other Religions be appointed Chair for the academic year 2024/25.

To appoint a Vice-Chair for the academic year 2024/25

RESOLVED that Clare Hawkins, Group C: Teachers and Teachers’ Vice-Chair for the academic year 2024/25.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 13 March 2024 and 9 July 2024 (advisory).

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 9 July 2024 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Lizzie Rich, Democratic Services Officer updated SACRE on a number of membership changes.

It was noted that Father David Clues had stepped down from SACRE, leaving two vacancies in Group D: Church of England.

It was noted that Ruth Jackson had moved on from Crowthorne Church of England Primary School, however a resignation had not yet been received so Ruth remained a member of Group C. A new application to sit as a teacher representative was due to be processed for Kylie Cahill.

Monitoring and Evaluation of GCSE and A-Level results

Vicki Gibson asked members for their view on how teachers could be supported in providing good religious education in Bracknell Forest.

SACRE members were provided with the 2022/23 RE exam results data with some questions to reflect on and it was suggested that the matter be revisited at the next meeting when the Local Authority Advisor was present.

It was noted that some schools had rebranded RE and some other subjects such as Citizenship into a more holistic offering.

It was proposed that SACRE members could build relationships with RE departments in schools to be better informed on how RE was being taught across the borough.

SACRE members discussed whether RE teaching could be seen as a burden to pupils or teachers, and it was noted that the approach to RE would vary drastically between schools. In some secondary schools, curriculum time was limited and therefore RE teaching could become pressured. In primary schools, it was commented that children tended to enjoy learning RE because of the prominence of story-telling, colour and drama in RE lessons.

It was noted that the proposed Agreed Syllabus launch would bring SACRE members and teachers together to have these sorts of discussions.

Vicki Gibson informed SACRE members that she would be contacting schools to congratulate them on their RE results for this year, when available.

SACRE discussed how the artefacts could better be promoted across the local authority.

It was noted that some boxes were currently on loan to schools, and that these had been well received. Vicki Gibson was writing a user guide for each box.

SACRE thanked staff at the Open Learning Centre for their work, as the box loan system was being delivered specifically for SACRE.

SACRE discussed how the boxes could be cared for, and it was agreed that a representative of each religion should be responsible for checking on the boxes from time to time.

Alan Montgomery agreed to put together a Humanist box.

Electronic catalogues of each box’s contents were available from the Open Learning Centre for teachers to see before borrowing.

SACRE members thanked Vicki for her hard work getting the boxes together.

Anne Andrews updated SACRE on the recent RE Network meeting which had been held in the library. Teachers had found the artefact boxes to be an exciting concept and had discussed ways in which the artefact cabinets and boxes could be used simultaneously.

The next SACRE newsletter was planned to go out in Spring, and any SACRE member with a submission to include should send it to Anne Andrews by the 1 December 2024.

SACRE noted the verbal reports of its teacher members who were present.

Clare Hawkins advised SACRE members that they would be welcome to attend a lesson and speak to students, perhaps as preparation for applying for the RE Hubs programme.

Anna Kennedy advised that Warfield Church of England Primary School had been using the Diocese of Guildford resources on the beatitudes, with a series on the ‘How to Be Attitudes’ which set out the expectations of the school community.

Kathy Hadfield advised SACRE members that the next Interfaith Forum meeting would be held on 14 November 2024, with a subject of mental health and religion. The meeting would be held at the Open Learning Centre, 7 to 9pm and all were invited.

Kathy Hadfield advised SACRE of the Week of Prayer for World Peace which was ongoing, and SACRE members would be sent the link to these resources.

It was noted that the date of the next meeting was 5 March 2024, which was Ash Wednesday. It was recognised that it was almost impossible to avoid religious festivals and Borough Council meetings when scheduling SACRE meetings, and there would inevitably be clashes through the year.